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Writers in Residence Program

2010 Writer in Residence

João Gilberto Noll - October 17, 2010 - October 24, 2010

João Gilberto Noll, born in Porto Alegre in 1946, has published 13 books and won numerous literary prizes, including the prestigious Jabuti Award. He has also been the subject of numerous academic studies and is one of the few Brazilian authors to have established a name for himself beyond Brazil. He won a scholarship to attend the University of Iowa's famed Writer's Workshop in 1982, spent a month in Berkeley as a Writer in Residence in 1996 and was invited back as a lecturer in 1997. He published his first short story in the anthology Roda de Fogo in 1970 and a decade later began to publish novels and collections of short stories: O Cego e a Dançarina (1980), A Fúria do Corpo (1981), Rastros do Verão (1986), Hotel Atlântico (1989), O Quieto Animal da Esquina (1991), Harmada (1993), A Céu Aberto (1996), Contos e Romances Reunidos (1997), Canoas e Marolas (1999), Berkeley em Bellagio (2002), Mínimos Múltiplos Comuns (2003), A Máquina de Ser (2006), and Acenos e Afagos (2008). He has also collaborated with various journals and newspapers. Noll's writing is influenced both by music and cinema. When he envisions a character within a scene, he does so as if his mind's eye is behind a camera, the characters staged as actors. A subtle Gregorian chant beats throughout the subtext. He is known for possessing an innovative fictional style which blends multifaceted aspects of narration with a richness of thematic elements irreducible to a specific locality, thus attracting readers of all stripes both within and outside of Brazil. To learn move about João Gilberto Noll, please visit his website.

Adriana Lisboa officially began her career in 1999 with the publication of her novel The Threads of Memory, which was followed by three other novels: Symphony in White (2001), a book that led critics to consider her one of the most promising authors of the new generation in Brazil, Colombine's Kiss (2003), and Rakushisha (2007). In 2004, she published a collection of short stories and poetry in prose, Calligraphies, with original drawings by Gianguido Bonfanti. In 2007, she published the novella The Heart Sometimes Stops Beating, which was adapted into a film by director Maria Camargo. Her work also includes three books for children: A Tongue Made of Scraps (2005), The Siren and the Butterfly Hunter (2009), both illustrated by Rui de Oliveira, and Japanese Popular Tales (2007), illustrated by Janaína Tokitaka. Her books have also appeared in Portugal, France, the United States, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, and Sweden. She has won numerous awards, including the prestigious José Saramago Award for Symphony in White, the Moinho Santista Award for her body of work, and, from the National Foundation of Books for Children and Youths (Brazilian section of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People), the Outstanding Newcomer of the Year Award for A Tongue Made of Scraps. In 2007, the Bogotá 39 / Hay Festival (Bogotá World Book Capital City) selected her as one of the thirty-nine most important Latin American writers under the age of thirty-nine. With a BA in Music from Uni-Rio (Rio de Janeiro Federal State University), she performed as a Brazilian jazz singer in France and worked as a music teacher in Rio. Visit Adriana Lisboa's website.

Cristovão Tezza began his career in 1988 with the book, Trapo, which made him into a nationally-recognized writer. In the 10 years that followed, he published Aventuras provisórias (with which he won the Prêmio Petrobrás de Literatura prize), Juliano pavollini, A suavidade do vento, O fantasma da infância and Uma noite em Curitiba. In 2005 his novel, O fotógrafo, won the Prêmio da Academia Brasileira de Letras prize for best novel of the year and the Prêmio Bravo! award for best work. His book, O filho eterno (2007), has garnered waves of awards and prizes. He won the Prêmio da APCA (Associação Paulista dos Críticos de Arte) for best work of fiction and in 2009 was considered by the newspaper O Globo as one of the 10 best Brazilian works of fiction in a decade. In 2008 he received Jabuti Prize, the Bravo! prize, and the Portugal-Telecom prize for Portuguese language literature for best novel, and the Prêmio São Paulo de Literatura prize for book of the year. In 2009, he won the Zaffari & Bourbon prize for best book of the last two years. Cristovão Tezza is also an accomplished academic. His doctoral thesis for the University of São Paulo, Entre a prosa e a poesia - Bakhtin e o formalismo russo, was published in 2002 and he has co-authored two other didactic books. He also writes a weekly column in the newspaper Gazeta do Povo. His latest book, Um erro emocional, will be available in Sept. 2010. Visit Cristovão Tezza's website.

2009 Writer in Residence

Bernardo Carvalho

Bernardo Carvalho is a Brazilian novelist, journalist, and playwright, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1960. He has been a correspondent for the "Folha de S. Paulo" (one of Brazil's major daily newspapers) in Paris and New York and the editor of the paper's literary supplement "Folhetim." His books are translated into more than ten languages and published in many countries. In addition to Aberração, a collection of short stories published in 1993, he has written nine novels, most recently O Filho da Mãe (Son of a Bitch), published in Brazil by Companhia das Letras, the publisher of all his previous titles. Two of his works have been translated into English and published in the UK: the novella Fear of de Sade (Canongate) and Nine Nights (Heinemann). The latter was awarded both the Portugal Telecom and Machado de Assis prizes. Mongolia (2003) was awarded the Jabuti prize, the most prestigious literary award in Brazil, and also won a prize from the Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte (APCA). Carvalho has contributed to a variety of publications and anthologies in Brazil and abroad. His 2006 play BR-3, written for the experimental Teatro da Vertigem, was staged on São Paulo's Tietê river and on boats in the bay of Rio. Some of his chronicles, literary reviews, and short fiction published in "Folha de S. Paulo" were collected in O Mundo Fora dos Eixos (Publifolha, 2006). Read the blog covering his trip to St. Petersburg.

Tuesday, September 29 at 3PM in 1820 Van Hise

"Fiction as Exception" lecture by writer in residence, Bernardo Carvalho. Followed by a reception in 1920 Van Hise.

Friday, October 2 from 11AM to 1PM in 336 Ingraham

"Workshop on the Writing of Bernardo Carvalho." Chaired by Ronaldo Ribeiro (UW-Madison). The workshop focused on his novel, "Nove Noites" ("Nine Nights").